So it arrives

Last week I got a phone call from Wacom's dealer in Taiwan, and they said this device (cintiq pro 24") I've waited forever is finally ready for purchase in my country.

IT IS HUMONGOUS
AND EXPENSIVE, OF COURSE
MY HEART IS BLEEDING

If anyone remembers, I mentioned the cintiq model is never ideal for me to paint, one of the reasons is that the matte surface makes it too fuzzy to see the subtle details and values. It's a very bizarre issue because it seems most of the customers don't have this problem. But still, a small amount of us noticed this issue.

For the older cintiq models, there's actually a method to turn the surface from matte to crystal-clear. And this is the way (please try at your own risk):

Just screw the warranty and tear off the matte surface. This is the tearing process of one of my old cintiq(13HD). There was actually a thick PET layer glued on the glass. After tearing it off, I got a clear glass screen, like every other tablet & smart phones. 

At first I believed I need to buy a matte film to protect my cintiq 13HD, and the film need to be smoother and more clear than the Wacom's matte layer. I googled it and got a MXH film from Photodon. Two years later the film became to have too much scratches, and I decided to try tempered glasses. There're many tempered glass product for Ipad, so I just grab one for my cintiq 13HD. (it's not designed for cintiq but it can cover my cintiq nonetheless) 

And I finally understand a tempered glass is the perfect choice for a cintiq.

I guess it's because I tend to use my pen with a very slight strength. Thus there's barely any need for the pen nib to rub against the surface. And there's just no reason to downgrade the image quality for such an expensive device. If it can be clear, then it should be clear.

Sadly, the newer cintiq models, like Cintiq Pro, don't have the matte layers anymore. Instead, Wacom just make their display to be an etched glass and that's it. The glass provides a matte surface itself, so there's no need for another layer on it. Which means I bought a 2500 USD display, that will never have the same image quality like any other clear-glass monitor. It's understandable, since the market seems to prefer a matte surface for drawing. But it's just kinda sad that there's no other choice for the smaller amount group of users, who prefer image quality more than anything, to have their ideal professional display even for a high price like 2000-2500 USD. (And it's easily achievable! Just make the cintiq out of a simple clear glass like every cheap tablet on the market!)

Before being hyped and making lots of art on this device, I'm currently searching the ideal film to protect my Cintiq Pro. Another sad thing is that there's no tempered glass big enough for a 24" display, so I only have PET films to choose. I really don't want to leave any scratches on this device. Too expensive to paint while it's naked. So uh I'm now becoming a maniac and keeping testing different films on it. And this is what my cintiq pro look like right now:

(Pardon my awful skill of applying films on it)
Most of them are for smart phones. Supposedly all of them will have some resistant for scratches, and also coatings for cleaning easily. I'm still waiting for one more film to test. Also because of this, I can't actually paint/draw on it now, until all of these testing films are taken off.

...Guessing I need to make another illust pack for the reward this month. I spent too much time on preparing for this new device. ;o;

-------------中文碎念分隔線---------------

上週我接到Wacom台灣代理的通知，說Cintiq pro 24吋已經到貨。我等這塊等了很久，不如說在W家宣布cintiq pro產品線之前，我就已經在等W家推4k解析度而且又夠大的產品，4k解析度對我來說真的是必須的，以後有機會再解釋。週三急忙衝去匯款，週五就收到了，感謝代理商的處理速度。

但當然啦我也差不多破產了呃啊啊啊真的好貴啊啊啊

之前我曾提到一些關於自己使用cintiq碰到的問題，其中一個問題是cintiq消光處理過的表面會降低顯示的清晰度，造成螢幕丟失了許多影像的小細節或細微的漸層。話說回來這問題其實也很微妙，大部份的Cintiq使用者似乎不覺得消光的表面會造成什麼不便，僅一小部份的使用者特別在意這點。不幸地我就是會很在意很在意很在意(ry

若是比較舊款的cintiq產品線，其實有一招可以把霧霧的表面變回光亮剔透的玻璃表面。下有照片為證：

簡言之就是犧牲掉保固，自己動手撕掉表面的消光膜(如想自行嘗試風險請自負)。照片中13HD那台的膜正撕到一半，也就是舊款的cintiq表面有一層很厚的消光保護膜膠合在上面，撕掉這層膜，就能得到一塊清晰光亮的玻璃螢幕，摸起來就像任何常見的平板或智慧手機一般。

我在2016年動手撕了13HD的消光膜，接著為了防止螢幕被畫花而開始尋找理想的保護膜。一開始我認為「既然要拿來畫圖，表面多少該有一點摩擦力，所以也只好選霧面膜了，但至少可以挑選比原廠那層更薄一點、滑一點的來貼上去。」於是拜過Google大神後我決定買了美國Photodon的MXH系列保貼。和原本那層膠合著的消光膜比起來、貼過MXH保貼的螢幕影像比較清晰，因光線折射問題造成的顆粒感也大幅改善；缺點是這款保貼硬度不足，兩年後因為累積太多刮痕，我決定嘗試使用表面光滑且硬度高的鋼化玻璃。市面上並沒有13HD專用的鋼化玻璃保貼，所以我買了Ipad pro 12.9吋的保貼湊合著用，反正做畫面積能被完整覆蓋住對我來說就夠了。

結論是鋼化玻璃正是cintiq最理想的表面保護層。運筆滑順、容易清潔、透光度高、感壓靈敏、影像品質不會打折扣。

但又話說，因為我的筆力很輕很飄，所以下筆表面摩擦力對我來說本來就可有可無，既然如此、就完全沒有必要選會影響到清晰度的霧面保貼。至於鏡面可能會造成的眩光問題，我一直都蠻無感，目前為止覺得沒什麼影響。如果這台螢幕能呈現出清楚的影像，那就該讓它100%呈現出來。

不幸地，新一代的Cintiq pro系列，沒有什麼膠合著的消光膜了。取而代之地是螢幕玻璃「本體」表面已經做了消光處理，既然螢幕玻璃本身就是消光的，那麼就沒必要再貼一層消光膜上去。換言之，我花了八萬多台票，買了一台貴桑桑的繪圖螢幕，其影像呈現品質、永遠達不到其他鏡面玻璃螢幕所能呈現的效果。從市場角度看其實可以理解W家之所以這麼做，是因為大部份消費者偏好消光表面能提供的摩擦力，且其稍被打折扣的顯像表現並沒有遭受市場強烈批評。但可惜之處就在像我這種少數的消費者，即使願意花到80K，也買不到一個真正理想的繪圖螢幕。(而且基本上要達到這標準根本不難，就學學當今隨處可見的平板電腦，直接用光滑的玻璃就好了啊！了不起我自己再貼個保貼也比直接把玻璃表面搞成霧面好啊！)

在興奮地開箱進測試之前，因為這台機子太貴了我刮不起，所以其實這幾天一直都在苦尋理想的保護膜。畢竟螢幕本身已經霧霧的了，再貼一層霧膜那絕對是霧上加霧，但沒人生產24吋大的鋼化玻璃(亦無法客製化)，所以我目前正在測試幾間不同牌的鏡面塑膠保貼。下圖是我的Cintiq pro 24吋現狀：

想說只是測試所以貼得很醜(藉口)大部份都是手機用的保貼，所以多少帶有抗刮和疏油的功能。我目前還在等其他張待測試的保貼寄到家，雖說心裡已經大概確定要找那間訂做了。總之咧以上落落長的文章其實是在說明...這兩週我花了太多時間在搞定這塊cintiq，且直到這些測試保貼撕下之前、都沒辦法好好在上面畫圖...orz...(只能在各別小區塊裡撇筆觸做測試而已)